Sure, Trump is hostile to environmental health, but even we progressives don’t care too much about that right now.
That’s because the collapse of the environment is a slow process that’s happening over decades, and may, with luck, be avoided. But the death of the American experiment with democracy is imminent, and may be completed in the next few months or a couple of years.
By the time Trump finishes remaking the United States according to his thirst for absolute power, he’ll have very little public support; even the true MAGA idiots, for the most part, will have realized that they’ve been conned.
But by then it will mean essentially nothing that the support for the world’s newest dictator’s will be so badly eroded. As we look around the globe at the dozens upon dozens of autocracies, the support base of their leaders is totally irrelevant.
This quote from Volodymyr Zelensky reminds us that if we’re looking for heads of state who are actually decent human beings, go to out-of-the way places that are fairly inconsequential in terms of international politics and commerce, e.g., New Zealand, Iceland, and Scandinavia. If you’re trying to find some true monsters, on the other hand, look in the big places: Russia, China, or the United States.
According to what we’re reading, the town hall meetings where Republican congresspeople are coming face-to-face with their voters are filled with extreme levels of anger.
What a surprise. Rooms packed with working-class people who are watching their basic costs rise, the mass destruction of government services, and billionaires walking away with huge tax cuts.
It was precisely these circumstances that saw a great many people in late 18th Century France lose their heads–literally.
From Proud Democrats:
As suggested at left, I remain suspicious that many of Trump’s appointments to top government positions are being made for their shock value. The key question seems to be: Who’s a well-known figure whose credentials are so bad that he’s really a sick joke?
At left are the words of the late British-American theoretical physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson.
Many of us harbor a misconception about science. We hear people say, “Trust the science,” as if that means trust the current set of results that scientists have concluded on a certain subject.
It would be far more helpful if we were to say, “Trust the scientific method and those trained in its use to produce the best answers available to humankind.”
At left are a few words from American actress and comedian Wanda Sykes. What an astute point she makes here, and how broadly it applies to our lives as Americans.
The MAGA crowd loves to rail against drag queens and controversial books, as well as free school lunches, forest rangers, and scientists, but it has no problem with mass school shootings and the outbreak of diseases that had formerly been eradicated.
A reader comments: Elon Musk has the full support of the American people.
Wrong. From The Independent:
When asked whether respondents approved or disapproved of the job that Musk is doing within the federal government, a net 34 percent approve compared to 49 that disapprove.
The poll, carried out on February 13 – 18, found that 52 percent disapprove of Musk’s shutting down federal programs that he deems unnecessary, compared to 26 who approve.
Holy cow.
